♫♪ Pop. 1280 - “Phantom Freighter”

Off the newest Pop. 1280 album Paradise, “Phantom Freighter” pummels listeners with the ferocity of a thousand cellphones catching fire mid-flight because signals scrambled-out at that altitude and nobody cooperated with airplane mode. Searing into brains like a bleed, the track ticks into a busted drum machine sound that becomes overpowered by a wave of nuclear burning, serving as the perfect moment for Chris Bug’s vocals to gnarl in and crunch death. And as a staple to Pop. 1280’s sound, Ivan Drip serves up a bass sound like an electromagnetic pulse, practically unplugging all listeners from the entire system and getting them nodding like the end is near.

With production/direction by Dave Ebel and cinematography by Meg Kettell, Pop. 1280’s new video for “Phantom Freighter” looks like a mashup of Repo Man and Falling Down. Starkly VHS in grain. Negative colors flaring up and out. Distant suits. Pop. 1280 going punk smashing. Close up of snarling lips. Empty landscapes filled with dread. Death to all electrical outlets! But there’s so much more unplugged Paradise out now on Sacred Bones Records.